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Stephen Mitchell

Was the best harbour on the Asiatic side of the *Hellespont. In the Iliad (2. 836) an ally of Troy and then a Thracian settlement, it was colonized c.700 bce by Milesians (see ...
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Was the best harbour on the Asiatic side of the *Hellespont. In the Iliad (2. 836) an ally of Troy and then a Thracian settlement, it was colonized c.700 bce by Milesians (see colonization, greek; miletus). From 514 it was under Persian control and served in 480 as the Asiatic bridgehead from which *Xerxes crossed into Europe (Hdt. 7. 34, 43 ff.). Thereafter it was successively part of the *Athenian empire until it revolted in 411 (Thuc. 8. 61–2), a Spartan ally until 394, and under Persian rule again until freed by *Alexander (3) the Great in 334. It put up heroic resistance when besieged by *Philip (3) V of Macedon in 200 (Polybius 16. 29–34). In Roman times and in late antiquity it was an important customs-station (OGI521). There are no significant archaeological remains at the site, but its coinage, including early electrum issues, is important.

Michael Vickers

The official sculpture of the Persian empire was made in a distinctive style which owed much to Mesopotamian forerunners, and like them tended to the glorification of the ruler. It used to be thought ...
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The official sculpture of the Persian empire was made in a distinctive style which owed much to Mesopotamian forerunners, and like them tended to the glorification of the ruler. It used to be thought that the style arose from the presence of particular groups of foreign craftsmen, notably Ionian Greeks, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that the Median, Persian, Babylonian, Sardian, Egyptian, and Ionian artisans who worked on the great palace complexes subordinated any indigenous traits to an international style devised to articulate the ideology of Achaemenid kings.Only a few sculptured reliefs are preserved from *Pasargadae, the city of *Cyrus (1). *Darius I is shown triumphant over a prostrate usurper in the *Bisutun relief, while *Ahuramazda hovers above. A colossal statue of Darius in Egyptian granite found at *Susa presents many problems: was it (and its lost pair) originally made for an Egyptian setting, or were they commissioned for Darius' Susan palace? The tombs of Darius and his successors at *Naqš-i Rustam show a royal personage on a platform borne by personifications of the lands of the empire.Less

Pierre Briant

The term, as used by Herodotus (1. 125), refers to one of the three clans (phrētrē) of the Pasargadae tribe to which the Persian kings belonged; its eponymous ancestor was supposedly Achaemenes (Hdt. ...
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The term, as used by Herodotus (1. 125), refers to one of the three clans (phrētrē) of the Pasargadae tribe to which the Persian kings belonged; its eponymous ancestor was supposedly Achaemenes (Hdt. 7. 11). The statement corresponds in part to *Darius I's account at *Bisutun, where he links himself explicitly to Achaemenes (OP: Haxāmaniš): ‘For this reason we are called Achaemenids. From long ago we have been noble. From long ago we have been kings’ (DB 1. 2–3). But this is the official version promulgated by Darius after his brutal seizure of power. This also led him to erect inscriptions in *Cyrus (1)'s name at *Pasargadae describing the founder of the empire as an Achaemenid: they served to hide the fact that Darius himself had no genealogical claim to the throne in 522 bce. Probably around this time a foundation legend about Achaemenes was created and put into circulation; he is said to have been abandoned as a small child and brought up by an eagle (Ael. NA 12, 21).Less

Guy Thompson Griffith and Susan Mary Sherwin-White

Achaeus (3) (d. 213 BCE), viceroy for *Antiochus (3) III of Seleucid Asia Minor and his kinsman (maternal uncle), probably the grandson of the Seleucid official Achaeus the Elder. In 223/2 ...
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Achaeus (3) (d. 213 BCE), viceroy for *Antiochus (3) III of Seleucid Asia Minor and his kinsman (maternal uncle), probably the grandson of the Seleucid official Achaeus the Elder. In 223/2 he recovered Seleucid possessions in Anatolia from *Pergamum; exploiting Antiochus' involvement in the east (Molon's revolt and war against *Ptolemy (1) IV), he proclaimed himself king (220). His soldiers refused to fight Antiochus, but he maintained power until the king was free to quell his rebellion. After a two-year siege in Sardis, he was captured and duly executed as a traitor.

Simon Hornblower

Ada, *satrap (see mausolus) of the Persian province of *Caria, youngest child of *Hecatomnus, sister of *Mausolus and of *Idrieus, to whom she was incestuously married and with whom she ...
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Ada, *satrap (see mausolus) of the Persian province of *Caria, youngest child of *Hecatomnus, sister of *Mausolus and of *Idrieus, to whom she was incestuously married and with whom she was co-ruler of Caria until his death in 344 bce. (See L. Robert, Hellenica 7 (1947), 63 ff., an interesting inscription from *Sinuri, which also shows that the Ptolemaic tax called the apomoira was of *Achaemenid Persian origin.) She then ruled alone (344–341) until displaced by her brother *Pixodarus. But *Alexander (3) the Great reinstated her in 334, and she adopted him as her son: Arr. Anab. 1. 23. Remarkably, he entrusted to her the siege of *Halicarnassus (Strabo 14. 2. 17).

Adiabene (mod. Halab), district of the two Zab rivers in north *Mesopotamia. Possibly a Seleucid hyparchy, it became a vassal kingdom, later a satrapy, of *Parthia, and was constantly involved in ...
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Adiabene (mod. Halab), district of the two Zab rivers in north *Mesopotamia. Possibly a Seleucid hyparchy, it became a vassal kingdom, later a satrapy, of *Parthia, and was constantly involved in her internal disputes and her wars with Rome. One of the dynasties of Adiabene embraced Judaism (Joseph. AJ 20.Less

Robert G. Morkot

Adulis or Adule, on the west coast of the Red Sea (at Zulla in Annesley Bay near Massawa), was used by Ptolemy II and III for elephant-hunts (see elephants), and became an important ...
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Adulis or Adule, on the west coast of the Red Sea (at Zulla in Annesley Bay near Massawa), was used by Ptolemy II and III for elephant-hunts (see elephants), and became an important export-mart for African and re-exported Indian wares, a caravan-route leading thence inland. Greeks and Indians frequented it. When the Aksumite kingdom rose (1st cent. ce, see axumis) Adulis became its main port and base (for voyages to East Africa and *India), surpassing all others in the 3rd cent. ce. Two famous inscriptions (combined in OGI54) are among its monuments.

Stephen Mitchell

Was the most important city of northern *Phrygia in Roman times. The well-preserved ruins of the site are dominated by the peripteral (colonnaded) Ionic temple of *Zeus, dedicated under Domitian in ...
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Was the most important city of northern *Phrygia in Roman times. The well-preserved ruins of the site are dominated by the peripteral (colonnaded) Ionic temple of *Zeus, dedicated under Domitian in ce 92. According to local legend Zeus was born in the Steunos cave which overlooked the river Pencalas near the city (the site has been identified and excavated). There were extensive sacred lands around the city, which were used to settle military colonists from the Attalid and Bithynian kingdoms. A long dispute over the revenues from this land was settled by Roman proconsuls of Asia in the 120s, and this appears to have unleashed a period of great prosperity in the 2nd cent. ce. During this time Aezani was transformed from a modest agricultural town (there are traces of late Hellenistic buildings and it may have been the minting centre for the people of Phrygia Epictetus) into an imperial architectural show-piece, with a theatre, a stadium, a large bath-house, several bridges across the river Pencalas which flowed through the city, and cemeteries full of elaborately decorated tombs. Aezani was an enthusiastic member of the *Panhellenion at Athens, where its best-known citizen and civic benefactor, M.Less

Joyce Reynolds

Africa was distinguished from Asia as the third continent by c.500 bce, with the Nile, later usually the Red Sea, as divider; but its interior and, even at the most extended period of knowledge, its ...
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Africa was distinguished from Asia as the third continent by c.500 bce, with the Nile, later usually the Red Sea, as divider; but its interior and, even at the most extended period of knowledge, its coasts south of Cape Delgado on the east and Cape Yubi on the west, remained substantially unknown, locations of marvels and geographical features uncertainly identifiable (Ptol. Geog. 4). Some believed it circumnavigable (Hdt. 4. 42) and triangular in shape (Strabo 17. 3. 1), but no circumnavigation is satisfactorily attested (see hanno (1); eudoxus (3)), and there are modern scholars who think it impracticable for ancient ships; pure theorizing could account for the traditions. An inconsistent belief in a land bridge from Africa to Asia in fact prevailed (Ptol. 7. 3. 6).In Egypt, and to some extent in Cyrenaica, Greeks could supplement autopsy with local information, cf. Herodotus on the Nile valley (2. 29–31), the inland route therefrom, via oases, possibly to the Atlas (4. 181–3), and a Libyan foray perhaps reaching the Niger, more probably Chad (not the Nile as he supposed; 2. 32–3). Extended knowledge of the *Red Sea and NE coasts came from *Alexander (3) the Great's Indian expedition, more under Ptolemaic rule in Egypt, and still more in Roman times as a result of increasing trade with India (see especially, Peripl.Less

J. David Hawkins

Country attested in the *Hattuša archives (alternative and older spelling, Ahhiya) as a foreign land, often associated with Arzawa, i.e. western Anatolia. References mention kings, persons, ships, ...
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Country attested in the *Hattuša archives (alternative and older spelling, Ahhiya) as a foreign land, often associated with Arzawa, i.e. western Anatolia. References mention kings, persons, ships, and deities of Ahhiyawa, and in so far as they are datable, span the period c.1400–1220 bce. At least one king of Ahhiyawa was ranked as a ‘Great King’, thus the equal of the Hittite and Egyptian kings. Location and identification remain controversial: the identification as ‘Achaean’ (Mycenaean) Greece by Forrer in 1920 has been much disputed. Arguments against emphasize the difficulty both of seeing an early form of Achaea in Ahhiyawa, and of identifying archaeologically a political entity in Greece or the Aegean islands which could correspond to the character of Ahhiyawa. Some also seek to locate Ahhiyawa on the Anatolian mainland. Arguments in favour, which have been regaining ground since c.1980 with the increasing evidence for a Mycenaean presence in western Anatolia, emphasize principally the improbability that the *Hittites, with their interest in western Anatolia, should never have mentioned the Mycenaeans.Less